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10 Things about our 5e Game
1. If it exists in the D&D world, then it may or may not have a place in Vir’Exalon. Vir’Exalon is heavily Homebrewed but still uses the core elements of the D&D multiverse in new ways and interesting combinations, with some unique elements thrown in. It’s still a D&D setting, so any information for players that appears in another D&D core rule book or supplement—from the classes and races in a Player’s Handbook to the new powers and other features in a book such as Volo's Guide—may have been altered or modified in our Vir’Exalon campaign. Best way is to check the player’s document to see if something is allowed. 2.Tone and attitude. Vir’Exalon has a stern, grim, dark attitude and is built in the likes of The Witcher World meets Tolkien’s with a splash of Game of Thrones. It takes the adventure of traditional D&D games and adds in a strong dose of mystery and scheming. In this campaign, stories don’t always end well, and there isn’t always a right answer to every problem. 3. A world of magic. Vir’Exalon is a high magical world. Monsters lurk outside of cities (and sometimes in them!) There is a sentient forest that kills travelers that upset it. Odd magical storms sometimes happen. While the living, breathing world is steeped in fantasy and magic, items of magic are rare. Many magic items are old, worn and have tremendous power. Only recently have ‘lower level’ or ‘common’ items started appearing and are highly coveted by many parties. 4. Our Campaign takes place on the continent of Clayth. This is a densely packed human centric area with few nations and many city states. Conflict, wars and shifting alliances are common among rulers. The common folks are equivalent to a medieval peasant of about 1200A.D. England, and come packed full of opinions and prejudices. Most people tend to focus on the region they live in, as travel is a dangerous affair. Clayth itself is the center point of the five continents of Vir’Exalon with Kavaari to its West, Tsarothiel to its East, Nimetre to its North and Yztac'Nahautl to the South. 5. Heroes are low to the ground. Most adventurers are low to the ground and only have impact for the quest giver, organization or region that it takes place in. Which is to say that not every player/character is going to get swept up on a world changing adventure where if you fail, everything dies. Not every quest, adventure or event is world breaking. Your character is special, but so is everyone else's. Personal Quests, world changing events, killing or becoming a god may or may not happen. Unlike a normal D&D group, 90 person Play-by-Post games can’t always cater to personal opinions of one's character. It should also be noted that the Character Channel is for quick reference please do not put your 30 page backstory in it. Save your Back Story for RP and make it part of your organic experience. No one is going to read it anyway, it is a quick reference channel, remember that when posting. 6. Divinity and Gods. Gods are pan dimensional beings of tremendous power and influence. They have been gifted a divine spark that grants them tremendous power and grants them a host of abilities. This power can be enhanced via worship from mortal souls. Each Divine Spark comes with a sphere of influence and grants the God dominion and authority over that portfolio. The Purpose of Reality has created redundancy and several gods may share dominion over a single Sphere of Influence. This represents different philosophies with each area. Once there were many gods and each have several Spheres as they have captured or assumed dead gods portfolios. Gods are the arbiters of their sphere and maintain the power for reality to continue to exist. Divine power functions differently than arcane power. Gods can utilize thought and will to manifest psychic power to maintain their portfolios of influence. One of their abilities is to know or sense what is going on around mortals they have a spiritual connection to. This spiritual connection allows them to use the mortals soul as a conduit of power. Non Divine Spark wielders can only use the more mundane arcane power and are subject to its limitations. Clerical Powers are rare in organized religion and priests may go a lifetime without ever casting spells. 7. Arcane Magic. Arcane Magic is a living thing. A force of unseen energy made up of potential possibilities, unexpected wonder and the inexplicable. While mortals have tried to quantify and understand the Arcane force, sometimes called Aether, their collective understanding throughout history has only begun to scratch the surface. The magical Aether is bound to reality and flows through the planes like creeks into rivers, that then joins and flow into oceans. Each plane puts its own influence on the Aether changing it ever so subtly, and each plane has a flow that runs to the Prime Material, adding their own influence to the world. The Magic of Aether itself is inaccessible and incomprehensible to the majority of mortals and while it is possessed of immeasurable possibilities, it is fallible. There are two categories of Arcane Magic in Vir’Exalon: Old Magic and Modern Magic. Before the Weave, magic was heavily saturated through reality, some planes had a denser saturation(like the Feywild), and others less so. Many creatures innate abilities stem from this time and have simply evolved over eons. Mortals created arcane philosophies and practical applications and traditions. The most common philosophy was crafting the magic into the mundane. Examples such as Primarie Fey wove mantles of silked Aether, the Dwarves crafted artifacts, weapons and armor then imbued the Aether within their craft. The old schools of magic include Angelic Sigils, Dwarven Ring Magic, Elvish Court Magic, Elemental magic, Entropy and Shadow just to name a few. These philosophies still exist in the world today, though they are rare and limited in scope. Modern Magic came with Mordekainen and Ivicaar’s creation of the Weave. Ivicaar, limiting mortals power to ninth level and under spells, Gathered up the majority of the Aether of all reality and spun it into The Weave. From this Weave she monitors the balance of Aether and its use through reality. One of her most promising disciples, Mordikainen, began to quantify the Weave and created eight structured schools of magic. Each with its own strengths in the arcane traditions. He set many scribes to record and copy his work and sent them among all lands. Due to the limitations of power from accessing the Weave, Verbal, somatic and materials needed to be used in order to access the Aether with reliable results. 8. The Gods War. There are many ages since the start of reality. The Age of War, known as the Gods War was the previous age to this one, the Age of Mortals. The Gods War saw many things in the world change. Outer Planes became locked. Summoning no longer functioned properly, if at all. link to spells that don’t function as expected Most of the mortal races were born or created. Magical Aether was limited and reduced to only a handful and accessed only by the Weave. No one truly knows how many gods there were, but only those that remained. The Gods Peace was reached as the war was reaching an escalation that would undo all of reality. The Accords of Balance were struck and they are rigidly adhered to and enforced to this day. This has created a cold war between planar powers on Vir’Exalon, as all Planes intersect with the Prime. 9. No one here is a professional. No one here works in game design or in the game industry. This is our hobby as much as yours. We have made this great space to form a shared community and play games. That said, we have people from all over the globe and all walks of life, and have laid in a few rules to keep the community gamer focused and open to all. The server is pg-13 and we restrict volatile topics in general as much as possible. Modern Politics, Religion and anything that fails to meet good taste is off limits. By being hobbyists it also means we may fail to notice something or forget other things in game. It may even mean we make mistakes. We are not above criticism but we ask that you keep it constructive and as private as possible. Both the player base and DMs will have varying degrees of experience and knowledge. If you choose to play or DM, or both, we ask you follow the guidelines to the best of your ability and resolve any issues like adults. 10. The World is a work in progress. The design team made a number of choices, and unlike a normal game, many choices were purposeful with a 100 person player base in mind (as well as brand new DMs). We try to answer as many of our choices in game via lore, but not all the lore is posted for the public or sometimes, even made. We do have a wiki, learn it and use it. The wiki is there for everyone, so feel free to add details for your quest and keep everyone informed! We understand that is can be difficult to navigate the Discord, and our Campaign but the more time you spend looking around the easier it becomes to understand. We have many helpful veteran community members who are here to help. That said, we will never have a 700 page world guide but the wiki is always expanding and should have many answers to most common questions. Many descriptions on the wiki have deliberately left space for DM's to expand upon. Many areas and locations give a brief description, a few points of interest and an overall theme for the area. This is by choice to allow more specific design at a later date by DM's during play. We ask you to stay fluid and flexible. We will change and improve things as we find a better way. It can be frustrating at times but is good for the long term health of the community. We are all here to have fun and that means different things to different people. There will be times when your character will be front and center and have a moment in the spotlight, and times where it is best to step back and let others have their moment. We ask to respect the play of others and they respect yours. With that, good questing adventurer!